Form and formula.

Starting from C.P. Snow's theory of the division between the "Two Cultures", this is a 3-part survey and update of the real or supposed gap in understanding between science and the arts. The 3 films are well illustrated with archive clips from newsreels and feature films and offer a lively range of opinions from scientists, educationalists and artists. "Part 1: Form and Formula". A visually extravagant and intellectually exhilarating exploration not so much of the "Two Cultures" debate, but of changing images of science and scientists in history; the place of science in national culture; the "culture" of science itself and the underlying homologies and threads of continuity between nature, art and mathematics. With Dr. Roy Porter (Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine), Prof. Lewis Wolpert (University College, London), Professor Ian Stewart (mathematician), J.G. Ballard and Peter Ackroyd (novelists).